PROVO, Utah -- A college student asked Mormon Institute of Religion teacher David L. Draut about something that had been troubling her.

"Brother Draut," she asked, "why is God so harsh in the Old Testament and then so kind in the New Testament?"

"He's not," Draut answered her. "He's the same consistent, wonderful, gracious, kind, merciful, God of justice he has always been."

Draut told a class at the 38th annual Sperry Symposium at Brigham Young University about this encounter with his student. He told of six ways that Jesus Christ, who was called Jehovah in the Old Testament, expressed loving kindness before New Testament times.

Jesus Christ is an unchangeable being

Christ declared that he is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (2 Nephi 27:23).

"Or, in other words, he is the same in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants or any other book of scripture that's going to come forth," said Draut, the director of the Mormon Institute of Religion at Michigan State University. "It's the same consistent Jehovah that we worship."

He said the prophet Nehemiah mentioned some of the Savior's unchanging attributes: "Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness" (Nehemiah 9:17).

Jesus Christ is a God of justice

"He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deuteronomy 32:4).

But justice does not mean an angry God who wants to destroy, according to Draut.

"When he says 'the anger of the Lord is kindled,' one of the ways you can interpret that is, you are about to get the punishment that's attached to the law that you chose to disobey," Draut said. "But the Lord does not want to administer it."

Jesus Christ is a God of mercy

"The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus 34:6-7). The Book of Mormon says that God "sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them" (Alma 5:33).

"It certainly doesn't sound like a God who is trying to get us out, or heap punishment or destroy," Draut said.

Jesus Christ is our loving redeemer

"I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. ... he was their Saviour. ... in his love and in his pity he redeemed them" (Isaiah 63:7-9).

"Could he be a redeemer without being loving?" Draut said.

Jesus Christ has made provisions for our mistakes

"'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). And with his stripes we are healed' if we want to be." Draut said.

"Jesus Christ knew we would make mistakes in mortality, and because of his love for us, he has made provision for us that he may lift us up," Draut said. "He IS the gospel."

Jesus Christ remembers our sins no more when we repent

"All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him" (Ezekiel 18:22, also see 33:16).

"One of the most merciful aspects of the Savior's compassion and character is manifested in the fact that when we repent of our sins, he promises to remember them no more," Draut said (See Jeremiah 31:34).

"Jesus Christ is the same gracious, kind and merciful God he's always been," Draut said. "I know that Jesus is our Savior and loving Redeemer."

E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com